June 29, 2012 Coats Museum NewsChristmas of 1929 was now history. Alton Stewart, one of the first of Coats’s many aviators, had been put to rest in the Coats City Cemetery. At high noon Wednesday, the marriage of Miss Ellie Byrd to Mr. Maylon Byrd was solemnized by Elder Oscar S. Young of Angier. The wedding took place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Byrd of Lillington, N.C. Mr. D.K. Grimes attended the wedding (Harnett County News January 2, 1929).Mr. and Mrs. Henry Eason Smith announced the birth of a daughter at their home on Monday, December 30, 1929. She had been christened Ora Pond Smith. Could this be our Ora Pond Hawley, wife of Joe C. Hawley, principal of Coats High School for several decades? Earlier, on December 24, 1929, Miss Mabel Parrish and Mr. Thomas J. Barnes and Mr. Cue Abbott and Miss Beatrice Massengill had married in Dillon, South Carolina. Wonder if the couples traveled to S.C. together (Harnett County News January 2, 1930)?The year was now 1930. America had been “dry” for 10 years. The friends of temperance celebrated as America observed the 10th anniversary of prohibition. The ban on alcohol, as provided under the 18th Amendment, had been the center of nationwide controversy since it took effect on the stroke of midnight, January 15, 1920. Prohibitionists had called it a blessing, with money once spent on alcohol now being spent by working families using it to feed and clothe their children. Opponents, in turn, claimed the law had spawned graft and murder, enriching bootleggers and causing countless deaths from impure alcohol. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company reported that deaths from alcoholism among its policyholders last year was six times the rate of ten years ago (Daniel 380).The Harnett County Board appropriated $ 40.00 for a library at Shawtown Colored School upon the condition that the new colored school raise $40.00 and the Rosenwald Fund give $40.00 for a total of $120.00 for the new school’s library. One could buy five cent drinks and candy back then-could they buy five cent books? An appropriation of $ 50.00 was made for the Coats Library upon condition that the school raise $50.00 and the state give $50.00. The board agreed to take $15.00 for the Mount Pisgah School building which had been abandoned some years ago. The board denied the request to transport ball teams to games at no cost to the county for using the school trucks (buses). Wonder why? Mr. J.M. Byrd of Coats presented a bill for water furnished to Coats School for $15.00 per month for the school term and this was allowed (Harnett County News January 9, 1930).The county allowed 25 cents per student to secure the service of a physician. If a district could get cheaper cost or even free, it was recommended that it be done. Smallpox was raging in some sections of the county for black and white students. A Harnett Road Board wanted to know what Highway Commissioner Hill thought and wanted to do about the road or roads between Lillington and Smithfield. The board adopted a resolution to have the road go through Angier (Highway 210 today?). Another resolution last October 7, supplemented the former resolution asking for the “most feasible route”. This was done after citizens of Coats appeared and wanted the road to go by that place. Angier then appeared before the board again pushing the Angier route (Harnett County News January 16, 1930) It looks like the score is now Angier 2 and Coats 2.With nearly 400 cases of smallpox reported in Dunn and a number of cases elsewhere, the board voted to make vaccination compulsory for both colored and white students. Coats was one school requiring children to have the vaccination (Harnett County News January 16, 1930). Wonder if any of the parents objected to their children being vaccinated.Dr. George L. Fuquay had spent practically three days at Coats School giving smallpox shot to over 200 students. A large picture of George Washington would be given to the grade having the most mothers present for PTA. The class had to give it up if another class had a higher number at the next PTA meeting. This following story is told on Cecil Fuquay, former Coats teacher and principal of Lafayette School. The first grader went home and told his mother, “You know that man George Washington? We can’t keep him in our room if you don’t come to the meeting tomorrow night”. The mother asked Cecil, “Who is George Washington?” Cecil replied, “Oh, he’s dead now but he was a governor or sumpin. Miss Hudson said for you to come.” The first grade kept the picture every month except one. The paper also reported that the school principal noted that Coats School was fortunate to have Miss Maisie Patterson on the faculty. She attended Meredith and the N.Y. School of Art. He said she was a lady versed in art. She had placed groups of pictures to brighten the bare auditorium walls making it clear that pictures should be throughout the school. Miss Rosa Edwards ably discussed the beautification of the school grounds. She outlined a plan of how the campus could be beautified without expense but not without work. Mr. Lewis explained the need for a first aid kit, naming the articles and medicines needed. He then asked for volunteer donations. Dr. C. Garner Fuquay volunteered to fill the entire list. The PTA voted to give $15 to the library. How much does the school have to spend on the library now? Was that part of the $50.00 that the school had to raise?Having the honor roll posted in the paper could have encouraged some students to study more. Look at the names on the list. Delaney Turlington, Dorothy Denning, Prentiss Johnson, Bernice Weaver, Mildred Weaver, and Velma Weaver were on the first grade list. Junius Ennis, Robert Turlington, J.D. Fish, Edwin Stewart, Stanton Byrd, and Mable Reid Turlington were second grade honor students. Third graders on the list were Gerald Hayes, Violette Hayes, Annie Ruth Wood, and Pauline Johnson. Madeline Keene, Bobby Kelly, and Mordicai Hudson had their name on the fourth grade list. Elise Hudson’s name was the only one on the Grade 5 list. Grade six students were Inez Kelly, Meida Lee, Lura Parrish, Dorothy Stewart, Nannie Lou Wiliford, and Flonnie Messer ( Harnett County News January 23, 1930). That’s it! Wonder why the school did not share the other honor students in grades seven to grade eleven?Who were Laura Byrd, Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Johnson, Miss Edna Johnson and Miss Lillian Johnson?The folks at the Coats Museum are really busy getting the museum ready for “The Bare Walls Preview Brunch” to be on Saturday morning July 14th, from 10:00-12:00. The public will be able to tour their museum’s new exhibit hall and see it before all the exhibits are added for the big opening in the fall. Also the museum wishes to thank Charles and Betty Manning for their donation to the building fund to honor the memory of Heather Pope Foster who died from cancer a few weeks ago. A special thank you goes to Paul Parker for his work at the museum.Please be mindful that this Coats Museum News appeared in the Daily Record on June 29, 2012.